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Track
List
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Musicians |
Notes |
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| Workingman's
Dead |
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1970
(2001)
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Amazon
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Workingman's
Dead review
Workingman's Dead is one the finest studio
albums that the Grateful Dead ever recorded. They began to lose
some of
their psychedelic tone on this album. Incredibly, Workingman's
Dead perfectly blends blues, folk, country, and rock in a very
unique way.
This album includes eight superb compositions. Like
Aoxomoxoa, the songs were mostly written by Garcia
and Hunter. Several songs make great campfire sing a long such as "Uncle Johns Band" and "Black Peter."
Phil Lesh helped pen the Country flavored "Cumberland
Blues," a song which showed their efforts to focus on
vocal harmonies.
The bonus tracks included on
Workingman's
Dead may not be the best from the Golden Road
box set, but
they are my favorite. The
rendition of "Dire Wolf" is interesting to hear; it was
the fifth time that it was performed and it features Bob Weir rather
than Jerry Garcia on lead vocals. The rendition of "Black Peter" is
sensational. At this
stage of the songs development it does not have the dynamics that
evolved through the years, but it drips with emotion, energy, and a
blazing guitar solo. The following song, Robert Hunter's "Easy Wind," featuring Pig Pen on
vocals, is the best track on the CD. During the instrumental
the band take their time building their peak that ends with
explosive authority, yeah.
The Grateful Dead's CD Workingman's
Dead is an essential release. My only negative criticism
is including the single version of
"Truckin'" as track 11 which is right after the
original albums version. Two versions of the same song can be redundant if you are not
close to the remote control. It would have fit much better as either
the last song on the disc or as a hidden track.
Original Album - A -
Bonus Material - A
Final Grade - A
The remastered version of Workingman's Dead is available
in the box set The Golden
Road.
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| Tracks |
Top of Page |
| Workingman's Dead |
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1. Uncle John's
Band (Garcia / Hunter) - 4:45
2. High Time (Garcia / Hunter) - 5:14
3. Dire Wolf (Garcia / Hunter) - 3:14
4. New Speedway Boogie (Garcia / Hunter) - 4:06
5. Cumberland Blues (Garcia / Hunter / Lesh) - 3:16
6. Black Peter (Garcia / Hunter) - 5:43
7. Easy Wind (Hunter) - 4:58
8. Casey Jones (Garcia / Hunter) - 4:38
Bonus Tracks
Studio
9. New Speedway Boogie (Garcia / Hunter) - 4:10
Bonus Tracks Live
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| 10. Dire Wolf
(Garcia / Hunter) - 2:31 |
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6/27/69 |
Santa Rosa Veteran's Memorial Hall, Santa Rosa,
CA |
| 11. Black
Peter (Garcia / Hunter) - 9:07 |
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1/10/70 |
Golden Hall Community Concourse, San Diego, CA |
| 12. Easy Wind
(Hunter) - 8:09 |
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1/16/70 |
Springer's Ballroom, Portland, OR |
| 13. Cumberland
Blues (Garcia / Hunter / Lesh) - 4:52 |
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1/17/70 |
Oregon State University (Gymnasium), Corvallis,
OR |
| 14. Mason's
Children (Garcia / Hunter / Lesh /
Weir)
- 6:32 |
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1/24/70 |
Civic Auditorium, Honolulu, HI |
| 15. Uncle
John's Band (Garcia / Hunter) -
7:57 |
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12/23/70 |
Winterland, San Francisco, CA |
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| Musicians: |
Top of Page |
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Jerry Garcia - lead guitar, vocals
Bob Weir - guitar, vocals
Phil Lesh - bass, vocals
Ron "Pig Pen" McKernan - keyboards, vocals
Bill Kreutzmann - drums
Mickey Hart - drums
Tom Constanten - keyboards on the following bonus tracks: "Dire Wolf,"
"Black Peter," "Easy Wind," "Cumberland Blues,"
and "Mason's Children" David
Nelson - Acoustic guitar on "Cumberland Blues." |
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| Notes: |
Top of Page |
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Released
- 1970
Reissue - 2001
Tape Archivist - Davis Lemieux
Article - A great interview with David Lemieux where he discusses
The
Golden Road.
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